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Thursday, 24 February 2011

No Rest For the Wicked Part Deux

So here it is, Day Two of my day off and catching up with cosmetic launches from my favourite brands. It's a gorgeous morning, the sun's shining so what better way to spend the day than to play with and test out the upcoming collections coming to the high street?! I finally got to meet a familiar face on the blogging and Twitter scene. After months of chatting online, seeing that we had a similar event to get to, we decided to meet up for a brief coffee before heading off to our first event.

Dior

Organised at the very very trendy W Hotel, I'm greeted by a glitzy juice bar. I grab a quick drink and zoom right into the area with the products. It's the relaunch of the iconic Dior Addict Lipstick. The staple of the Dior arsenal now comes in a mind-staggering 44 shades in an improved formulation! If you can't find a shade to suit you here, you'd probably best give up. I had a play and saw the ladies trying the shades and everyone I talked to said it felt comfortable to wear. As a makeup artist I'm more concerned about the density in colour. The few shades I tried layered well and with a slight shine to it. Very modern and I can't wait to actually get to shoot with it.

The Dior Addict Lipsticks are exclusive to Selfridges from 24th March and goes nationwide 11th April.

Also up for show was the new Summer 2011 Dior Electric Tropics Collection.

Nude Glow Healthy Glow Summer Powders - 2 velvety lightly shimmery bronzers which I can already see as a must in my kit!

Healthy Glow Summer Fluid - 1 Rosy Nude and 1 Honey Nude, 2 veil-like fluids to wear instead or over foundations. I liked the lighter shade of Rosy Nude as I found it slightly less matte than the deeper Honey Nude. Clever product though.

The Electric Tropics Summer Collection is out exclusively at Selfridges and Brown Thomas 2nd May and then nationwide 16th May.

After another coffee break and to meet another blogger who I chat to on Twitter but have never had the pleasure to meet. It's really nice to finally put faces to names! Right I digress!

Guerlain

I've been a fan of Guerlain since the days of Meteorites but have been a bit of a stranger for years so I was super happy to be invited to the launch! Situated at the architecturally lush Institute of Contemporary Arts, I am greeted by more people I tweet with regularly! There's loads of products being introduced here so I shall only talk about what I'm interested in as a makeup artist.

Terracotta Powder - Now comes in 8 gorgeous shades and sleeker compacts to suit all skin tone. I've always been a fan of this cult product and was super thrilled! 8 shades!

Terracotta Skin - A clever hybrid foundation of powder, cream and gel to give you a veil of colour that is instantly real and velvety. Definitely handy in my work for when you want to create a tan without having to deal with self tanners.

Terracotta Jambes De Gazelle - Definitely caught my attention straightaway! It's a gorgeous bronzing gel for legs to give you a shine and tan to rival any of those rich WAGs that can be washed off with soap and water. Most importantly it will not rub off on your clothes! Another kit staple for instant but washable effects!

All the above available nationwide 27th March 2011.

Terra Inca Summer 2011Here's the makeup range for the summer-loving lady! I am sure you'd have read about it by now so I shall only pick out what I see myself loving!

Star Powder - A beautiful warming compact powder encased in the most luxurious wooden shallow bowl with a twist-off magnetic lid! I nearly screamed like a girl at the thought of how amazing it would look on my dressing table if I had one!

Terre Indigo - An Incan mosaic of orange, blue, 2 shades of brown held together with pale gold. Tried on my hand, the colours are rich, intense and gorgeous with a finish of sun-baked soil in an exotic location!

Kôhl Kajal - The cult pointy-tipped black crayon makes a return! Personally I think best used for the sultry smudged effect.

Ombre Fusion literally made me and companion squeal in excitement. Imagine 3 shades of Pink, Bronze and Copper in a cream that depending on technique, can go from sheerest sheen to molten liquid metal! I'm so using that on my next shoot! Apparently long lasting and budge proof as well but undeniably magnificent!

25 shades categorised under Unforgettable Beiges, Passionate Red, Flamboyant Oranges and Loving Pinks.The clever gold square barrel boasts the ingenious button that you push to reveal the lipstick bullet, all using only one hand! I suppose that's handy for the woman on the go.

The Rouge Automatique is exclusive to Selfridges 3rd April and nationwide 1st May 2011.

Yves Saint LaurentI am greeted with 6 palettes of the new Pure Chromatics Eyeshadows which are just pure joy of colour! With the option of using wet or dry, the finish is pure luxurious colour when applied dry and intense metallic opulence when applied wet. I tried both and love the wet application which gives you a finish like an expensive sports car caught in the rain. Dark and intense and very very expensive!

Now what got me very very excited were the new Long-Lasting Waterproof Eye Pencil. It comes in 5 shades that are waterproof once it sets. There's a 30ish second play-time that allows you to blend and smudge and then it sets to non-budge intense colour. I love working with wet textures as they usually give you an intensity that dry textures don't really give you. So it's perfect that these gave me that intensity and yet sets to a waterproof finish! No more smudging! I can see this being a staple with doing my celebs for events for minimal retouching. Have a look at the shades on my hand, I am afraid my photography skills did not do it justice.

The collection is exclusive to Selfridges 3rd March and goes nationwide mid-March.

Armani Before I left for the day, I managed to grab hold of a quick look of the upcoming Eyes To Kill collection that should be out soon. New heavily-pigmented shadows that are pressed into the jar. It took me awhile to get it but it's loose intense pigment that's gently pressed into a pot. I got to play with a lab sample so it might change when it comes out. Dark intense midnight bruise with flecks of blood rubies! Wooo I can think of all the possibilities of this colour for work already! So here you go, have a look!

So there you have it. My 2 days off! That's the life of a makeup artist. Even when I'm not shooting or working with a celebrity, it's rare that I actually don't come in contact with makeup in whatever form. I love it though and wouldn't change anything about it. I apologise for the long post but hope you enjoy seeing what I got to see!Tweet

You are such a natural at blogging! Is so refreshing to see these launches from a makeup artist's point of view, I love hearing what you think will make it into your kit. I really want to try to get a Guerlain bronzer for the summer, haven't worn one in years.

If you keep meeting so many other bloggers you'll no longer maintain your man of mystery persona like the Loch Ness Monster!!!! Jen xxx

It is!! I'm excited and I'm not even a girl! Yes wait till you try them wet, that's when the full potential and wowness of the shadows come out! I'm missing the best palettes, it'll be with me in a few days. It's a gorgeous green and violet! Utter lushness! xx

Ooh I like the packaging for Automatique lippies, v innovative. Great blog, please keep it up. Would love the odd makeup artist tip as well - eg when you talked about the bronzer, if you could mention a tip on how to use bronzer that would be fab and again set you apart from other beauty bloggers. Can we also have some tips from your shoots!

Thanks DRG, very useful comments and already being addressed as I type. I'm a MUA first and foremost and beauty bloggers do it better than I ever could. It's also not my intention to be a beauty blogger as like you said, I'd like to bring about a point of view that's from the other side. Thanks for reading and commenting and I hope you'll like the next post too. x